Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will convene on Monday with Interior
Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Deputy Minister for Mass Media Costas
Gioulekas at the Maximos mansion (government's headquarters). The
measures against poverty adopted by the government were the focal point
of a confrontation between Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Popular
Orthodox Rally (LAOS) President George Karatzaferis on Friday in
Parliament.<font size="3" face="Verdana"> The key points of the
government's economic policy are to protect jobs and strengthen
vulnerable social groups, Karamanlis said, stressing that the following
months will be crucial for all countries. He also issued an appeal for
a fruitful dialogue aimed at coping with the crisis and stressed that
there are no magic and cost-free solutions, adding that irresponsible
danger-mongering practices are not useful. On his part, Karatzaferis
accused the prime minister of not making any specific proposals.
Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Maximos mansion

Greece's supreme administrative court, the Council of State, has
revoked a ministerial decision denying asylum to an unaccompanied
minor from Afghanistan, who had entered Greece as an illegal
immigrant in November 2001.

The young man, then aged just 15, and had been arrested by the Kos
coast guard when he attempted to enter Greece from neighbouring
Turkey, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. His application to be
given asylum as a political refugee, claiming fear of persecution in
his native Afghanistan due to his racial background and religion,
had been denied by the then public order ministry three times.

Specifically, the boy claimed to be a Shi'ite Muslim of the Hazara
tribe and that he had been forced to leave Afghanistan due to the
civil war and the religious and political turmoil in his native
country, believing that he would be personally targeted if he
returned. He had also requested to be given a temporary residence
permit on humanitarian grounds.

Since arriving in Greece, the youth had been living in a hostel for
underage minors on Crete, where he had been attending classes.

The CoS revoked the ministry's decision as insufficiently justified,
finding that the ministry had failed to observe laws that obliged it
to investigate the validity of the claims put forward by the boy,
who as a minor was entitled to a special protective status and
guarantees under international, European and Greek laws.

The CoS decision noted, also, that the ministry had failed to assign
a special temporary commissioner to the minor, as it was obliged to
do.

The horribly mutilated body of a 20-year-old man from the town of
Koropi in Attica was discovered at around midday on Sunday, near the
town's former dump. According to police, the young man had been
missing since Thursday night and they are treating the case as a
brutal murder.

The victim's hands and feet were tied with his own shoelaces when he
was discovered, while police say that he was most likely murdered at
some other location and transported to where he was found by the
perpetrators.

According to an announcement, the young man was last seen by his
family at 10:30 on Thursday night, when he told his mother that he
was going out to meet a friend and give him a mobile phone. An hour
later, he phoned his mother again and said that he would be coming
home soon.

When he failed to return some time later, his mother tried to call
him on his mobile again and an unknown man answered the call and
said that her son was being held, demanding 35,000 euros as ransom
in order to set him free. The demand was repeated to the young man's
father, while they threatened to kill the 20-year-old if the family
contacted the police.

After that, the parents had no further contact with the kidnappers
and his body was discovered on Sunday by two local residents that
were out on a stroll.

According to the coroner that examined the body, his death occurred
about 35 hours before the body was discovered. The precise cause of
death will be determined during an autopsy that will take place on
Monday.

Police are not convinced that this is a clear-cut case of kidnapping
for ransom and are investigating other possible motives for the
crime.

The last of the farmers blockading the Promachonas border post with
Bulgaria finally departed on Sunday, 20 days after they first began
their mobilisation, after extracting a promise from Agriculture
Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis in talks held on Friday that he would
satisfy a series of their demands.

Their departure was met with great relief across the border and was
among the top news stories in neighbouring Bulgaria, since the
tractor road blocks had greatly disrupted its transport sector but
had also hurt areas dependent on tourism from Greece.

The six "Non-aligned Farmers' Unions" of Serres warned as they
departed, however, that the government had until 20th March in which
to carry out its promises, after which the farmers would be back at
the Promachonas border post, with all that this entailed.

Munich (ANA-MPA/F. Karaviti) -- Foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis
chaired a panel on "Nato, Russia, Oil, Gas and the Middle East: The
future of European security", in her capacity as chairperson of the
OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) for 2009, in
the context of the 45th Munich Security Conference.

Also taking part in the panel on Saturday were Estonia president Toomas
Ilves, Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, British foreign
secretary David Miliband, and US Congresswoman (House of
Representatives) Jane Harman, who replaced the originally scheduled
Senator and former US presidential candidate John McCain.

Below is the foreign minister's address to the panel:

"Let me begin with a snap-shot of where we stand in the discussions on
(Russian) President Medvedev's and (French) President Sarkozy's
proposals at least in terms of process from the perspective of the OSCE
chair.

Although most countries are seemingly happy with the existing security
arrangements, there appears to be widespread consensus that, to say the
least, we need to engage in a dialogue on security issues.

Most, also, agree that the OSCE is the appropriate forum for such a
dialogue to take place. I am glad to note that those countries who had
initially expressed reservations about the OSCE have now accepted that
it is the best structure available.

It goes without saying that -provided that there is agreement by all 56
OSCE participating states- Greece stands ready to organize meetings at
any level that could launch, or more generally facilitate, such a
dialogue.

Now, putting on my national hat and without wanting to prejudice our
discussion in any way, permit me to quickly touch on five quick
points:

First, discussions about European security usually begin with a
reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall - and justifiably so. The
world has never been the same since. It is a careless
oversimplification, however headline grabbing and sensational, to speak
of a return to the Cold War.

Second, let's be frank. As the current crisis demonstrates we face
common threats and common challenges. Needless to stress the
significance to this panel of Russia, our partner in peace. Therefore,
the least we can do is to take Moscow's proposal extremely seriously
and engage in a meaningful and hopefully fruitful dialogue.

Third, the way things stand today dividing soft and hard security
amounts to drawing a line in the sand. Security is a two-way road.
Aristotle in his Metaphysics argued that "the whole is more than the
sum of its parts." Indeed, it is necessary to focus on the big picture
and adopt a holistic approach. In light of current events, for example,
would it be possible to ignore energy security?

Fourth, we have to look for our common interests and -why not?- common
values. Respecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law,
observing territorial integrity, refraining from the threat or use of
force, are the cornerstones of our system and form the basis for our
co-operative security. After all international law remains the most
profound realpolitik.

Fifth and final, is that there is a new kid on the block: the European
Union. Particularly in view of the new US administration, we must
assess the global role of the EU. We need a self-confident Europe that
speaks with one voice. I have no illusions that there are different
views within our Union but I would like to see a Europe and a USA
working together as equal partners.

In the meantime and as our discussions unfold we must not waste any
time and move forward with the toolbox that we have in our hands. As
Frank - Walter Steinmeier has said, diplomacy 'cannot afford
fair-weather institutions'.

On one hand, we should support the reactivation of NATO-Russia Council
so that it reaches its full potential as soon as possible. We have
plenty of potential areas of cooperation - one needs to look no further
than the obvious: Afghanistan.

On the other hand, we must boost the EU's neighborhood policy and our
eastern partnership. We welcome the initiative of the Czech Presidency.
After all, the European Union is the biggest and most successful
post-war exercise in conflict prevention.

And of course, we need to intensify our efforts to deal with the
so-called frozen conflicts, which, as shown last August in Georgia, can
turn hot very quickly.

We have two tools here: the EU as proven by the intervention of the
French Presidency last August and the OSCE which finds itself in the
unique position of being the only European Security Organization that
can rely on the political will and the resources of all major
stakeholders.

Here I would like to point that a major challenge for our Chairmanship
is the continuation of the OSCE work in Georgia. Our focus remains
humanitarian. We are convinced that the volatile situation on the
ground requires more and not less OSCE presence."

A peace Marathon in support of the beleaguered Palestinian people in
Gaza was organised in Athens on Sunday by the regional union of
Attica municipal authorities TEDKNA, in collaboration with the Greek
athletics federation SEGAS and with the participation of the Greek
Paralympics Committee, the Youth and Sports Organisation (ONA) of
Athens municipality and other municipal sports associations in
Attica.

The 10-kilometre marathon began at Dafni Monastery and ended at
Syntagma Square, while its central message was "Our heart beats in
Gaza". More than 500 athletes took part, while the event kicked off
with a torch relay from the Elefsina archaeological site, with 55
torch bearers from the 5th and 6th years of local primary schools in
Elefsina and Haidari, who carried the torch to Dafni Monastery,
where the cauldron was lit to mark the start of the race.

Among those who reached the finish line in Syntagma Square were
three people with disabilities - Kyriaki Ispahanidou, Panagiotis
Papavassiliou and Mihalis Aslanoglou - all three of which received
an honorary distinction for taking part.

Caption: A pupil runs in the torch relay in the streets of Athens,
Greece, part of the Peace Marathon for Gaza on Sunday 8 February
2009.ANA-MPA/PANTELIS SAITAS

Olympiakos Piraeus retained its commanding lead in the Greek Super
League after beating Panthrakikos Komotini 2-0 in a match played away
over the weekend. Panathinaikos Athens downed PAOK Thessaloniki 3-0 at
home and climbed to second while PAOK fell to third place in the
standings respectively.